news for 29th nov: a fantastic few hours at the marina from 12.45-3.30 produced 11 leach's petrels. several birds were very close in affording some brilliant views. the only other bird of note was a little gull at the base of the E arm.

yday: this bonxie was washed up on brighton beach.

2 wrynecks were found at the north end of sheepcote today. 1 by the 3 caravans and 1 in the SE corner of the old bmx track. though fairly close together the time period between the findings and general circumstances indicate two birds. it was actually not a bad day out considering i got there late due to work cancellation but more on this later when i have me notebook, its just dross anyways.

update: other sightings during the day included 1000's of hirundines, 100's of meadow pipits, 67 blackcaps, 30 chiffs, 30 whinchats, 16 stonechats, 8 redstarts, 5 wheatears, 2 grey wags, 2 lesser whites and singles of reed warbler, sedge warbler, yellow wag, reed bunting and little owl. the latter is a good bird here and the first record for a few years despite being present at ovingdean.

updating the blog continues to be fairly slow due to lack of internet. the month started with a dotterel at balsdean during the week. On the 10th, an afterwork visit to sheepcote produced 2 redstart, 4 spot fly, 10 whinchat, 30+ blackcaps and 20+ willow warblers along with a wryneck that had been found earlier in the day. Y'day got off to a good start with the stiff NE's producing plenty of migrants from the start (though very little flying over) and a mornings tally of 55 willow/chiffs, 30 blackcaps, 6 crossbills, 8 spot flys, 13 whinchats, 2 redstarts, hobby and firecrest was topped by the finding of a juvenile rose coloured starling, a first for sheepcote. An elusive bird initially present for 20 mins, it was not seen again for many hours but was finally enjoyed(?!) by several observers when it was relocated during the afternoon as it joined a highly mobile and skulking flock of starlings. (cheers for the photo jake)

it has been estimated that there were somewhere in the region of 120,000 painted ladies in the field near ditchling beacon. see here: http://www.sussex-butterflies.org.uk/sightings.html

a true spectacle was witnessed this evening. Halfway along the road to ditchling beacon there is a small field of thistles and in it are literally thousands upon thousands of painted ladies.

at work today a scarlet tiger spent most of the day turning up in various locations around the garden. avian highlight though was a male honey buzzard over during the anoon.

a red kite flew over sheepcote this morning and after several poor years it was nice to find 67 bee orchids there too.

this lime hawk moth was found on the way to work this morning.

this elephant hawk moth emerged today from a chrysalis found during the week in the garden.

a surprise sighting late this evening was a barn owl hunting over east brighton golf course, a rare bird in brighton. within a stones throw from sheepcote valley where there is only one confirmed record from oct 93. still desperately slow in the bushes.

a red kite flew west over bevendean at 4.10pm.

2 ring ouzels were at roedean very briefly this morning.

an iceland gull off the marina this morning conveniently flew inshore and landed on the inner beach for a short while before flying off over the cliffs.

a redstart was at sheepcote this morning but due to the complete lack of other birds headed to the marina. lots of passerines in off in the brisk NE, mostly swallows but a close flock of 6 arctic terns, 6 velvet scoter, black tern and merlin were the highlights.

its a willow warbler.

an osprey flew over hove this afternoon.

a male marsh harrier was at arlington res this evening.

an adult caspian gull was on the undercliff this evening.

spent the day with ian barnard checking out various sites in the far east of the county. the main interest for me being the possibility of relocating the king eider (in sussex). pett was largely devoid of sea duck although a red throated diver was on one of the pools. a walk up the pannel valley produced 2 marsh harriers, plenty of med gulls, cetti's warbler and a very distant great grey shrike. 2 smart avocets and a marsh harrier were on the midrips with slav grebe and 2 scaup offshore. a few other bits and bobs were seen but annoyingly large gulls were few and far between.

literally just finished work when i had a call about 3 waxwings in hollingdean, brighton. couldnt be arsed to begin with but was early enough to miss the traffic and got there in record time due to some very favourable traffic lights. the birds were perched high up with starlings and flew off about 5 mins later! cheers pete for use of the bins.

a day out with me bro and ian barnard produced a few bits and bobs but the king eider stubbornly decided not to cross the border into sussex. we started at jurys gap and walked east to the border but the eider was not even visible until we were well in kent. we sat it out for a few hours in the hope (for me at least) that it would come into sussex but had to make do with a 1st winter iceland gull drifting along the beach into sussex, hen and marsh harriers on the midrips and a long tailed duck, slav grebe and 10+ velvet scoter offshore. all scotney could offer was some whitefronts but news that the eider had flown west had us back at jurys gap. alas it was all a waste of time as the eider returned to galloways and had probably not flown far (if at all).

actually twitched this chap on hove pitch and putt during the week. it was found by me bro and i couldnt resist having a gander. quite funny.

news for yday: 2 1st winter caspian gulls were found in the roost along the undercliff with 5+ yellow legged gulls, some very dark mantled common gulls (plus 2 still in largely juv plumage) and a whole host of other interesting looking gulls. no white wingers though.

this white winger was at hove lagoon this evening. luckily it was only 5 mins away from work and i was able to see it and return without anyone noticing.

bumping into pops along the undercliff was a blessing in disguise as 2 black necked grebes were found off ovingdean as we stood chatting. not that far out, they continued slowly w and were off the marina an hour later. certainly a good winter record here.

a cycle out to southwick late morning produced a long tailed duck just offshore and a stupid redshank in the lock gates.